Ripple’s RLUSD Stablecoin Wins Final Regulatory Approval — Is XRP Ready For A Go At $5?

According to Ripple CEO Bradley Garlinghouse, the company’s RLUSD stablecoin has officially received final approval from the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS). Ripple All Set To Storm Stablecoin Market The regulatory green light, as Ripple boss Brad Garlinghouse revealed, follows months of review, positioning Ripple for the impending mainnet launch of RLUSD. In a post on X, Garlinghouse announced, “This just in… we have final approval from NYDFS for $RLUSD!” This just means that the highly-anticipated dollar-pegged token will soon be listed on major exchanges. Ripple first announced plans for the stablecoin back in April to directly challenge the dominance of Tether’s USDT and Circle’s USDC. Notably, USDT and USDC currently dominate the nearly $200 billion stablecoin sector. Ripple executives projected the stablecoin could reach a market capitalization of $2 trillion by 2028. RLUSD, designed as a 1:1 US dollar-backed stablecoin, will be backed by USD deposits, short-term US government treasuries, and other cash equivalents. The company started testing RLUSD on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum mainnets in August. Then, in October, Ripple announced partnerships with exchanges, including Uphold, Bitstamp, Bitso, MoonPay, CoinMENA, and Bullish. Ripple strives to leverage both RLUSD and XRP to boost its cross-border payment solutions. Garlinghouse said in September that Ripple planned to have RLUSD focus on institutional players. The price of XRP jumped 10% following the RLUSD approval announcement, erasing Tuesday’s losses where it slipped below $2 for the first time since Dec. 1. The forth-largest cryptocurrency was trading hands for $2.34 as of publication time, according to CoinGecko . Besides helping Ripple enter the fast-growing stablecoin market, RLUSD could also help boost XRP’s price to the much-coveted $5 threshold. It’s currently down just over 31% from its all-time high of $3.40, set in January 2018.